Analyzing Restaurant Market Growth Trends for 2026

, hospitality industry leaders are looking towards 2026 with mindful optimism. Increasing functional costs are slated to challenge owners this year and lower-tier segments could have a hard time amid a growing wealth bifurcation.

And through all of it, hotel business are expected to fortify their portfolios with brand-new brand offerings and collaborations. As the year gets underway, Hotel Dive talked with hospitality leaders from varying corners of the market about their 2026 forecasts. Below are the leading trends anticipated to impact hotel operations, performance, net unit growth and more this year.

Total salaries, wages and advantages paid by U.S. hotels rose to $127 billion in 2025, according to information from the American Hotel & Lodging Association, shown Hotel Dive. In 2026, that figure is predicted to reach $131 billion, representing an approximately 3% year-over-year boost, per AHLA. For hotel owners, increasing labor expenses posture an obstacle to net operating earnings development, Kevin Davis, Americas CEO at JLL Hotels & Hospitality, told Hotel Dive.

Analyzing Restaurant Sector Growth Data for 2026

Increasing labor costs have been a difficulty for hoteliers for years, Davis said, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, hotel labor costs have increased 15.3% from 2019 to 2025, outmatching the 12.8% growth in total operating revenue, according to AHLA.

3, 2024 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan by means of Getty Images In 2026, Davis noted, union settlements will be "front and center" in New York City, where the New York City Hotel and Video gaming Trades Council's union contract with the Hotel Association of New York City City is set to expire in July.

In 2015, the union backed New York City's freshly elected Mayor Zorhan Mamdani, who operated on a promise to raise New York City's base pay to $30 per hour by 2030. Hotel industry associations, consisting of AHLA, have actually knocked comparable legislation across the country, consisting of the just recently passed $30 wage regulation in Los Angeles. "Need has not stayed up to date with this rate," she said. "We're also seeing these challenges compounded by legislation that targets hotel operations, such as extreme labor and licensing policies like the New York City Safe Hotels Act. When need is falling and expenses are soaring, the mathematics merely doesn't include up." Salaries, earnings and payroll-related expenses paid by hotels now account for more than 32% of total revenue, according to AHLA.

Modern Restaurant Market Trends Fueling 2026 Success

As more hotel visitors turn to expert system to improve their travel experience, scheduling hotels directly through big language models (LLMs) may be next, hospitality specialists said. Agentic commerce a process by which autonomous AI agents act on behalf of a customer to find, compare and complete purchases is a pattern that has actually accelerated across markets like retail.

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According to PwC's 2025 Holiday Outlook report, 76% of millennials said they're likely to use AI for travel recommendations. That number is growing, Jonathan Kletzel, PwC's travel, transport and logistics leader, told Hotel Dive. Michael Klein Head of retail, travel and hospitality item marketing at Talkdesk To stay competitive with direct reservation, larger multibrand hotel companies will "embed LLMs into their own brand name websites and mobile apps, and alter the way the consumer searches," Kletzel said.

"If you are not visible in an LLM search results page which many brands aren't, and this is the huge panic that they're all going through right now customers aren't going to consider you," he stated. Michael Klein, head of retail, travel and hospitality item marketing at AI customer experience platform Talkdesk, likewise informed Hotel Dive that hospitality players require to ensure their home info is being indexed by LLMs to appear in traveler inquiries.